In December 2000, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) placed the Portland Harbor on its National Priorities List (NPL) of cleanup sites. Portland Harbor is the section of the Willamette River that extends six miles from Willamette Falls to the South to Swan Island in the North. These NPL sites are commonly known as Superfund sites, designating them as the country's most polluted sites in the country. Oregon Health Division and the federal Environmental Protection Agency have identified unsafe levels of heavy metals including mercury, PCBs, dioxins, DDT and a host of other pesticides and herbicides. Many of the substances found in the Harbor are known to be harmful to people and animals, especially those who live in and use the harbor area.

The Willamette River also carries the burden of Portland's combined sewer overflows. During heavy rains, the city's sewage treatment system is often pushed beyond capacity and raw sewage overflows directly into the Willamette River. This can contaminate the river with disease forming bacteria such as Cryptosporidium, Giardia, E. coli, and Shigella that can cause illness. People who use the Willamette River for drinking, swimming, fishing or other activities need to be aware of the threats posed by the contaminates of the river and use extreme caution during these times.

Corporations that have historically discharged toxic waste into the Willamette are also coming under scrutiny. These companies, known as Potentially Responsible Parties, are responsible for the costs of cleanup. If there are costs that are not recovered from the companies, then costs are passed on to the taxpayer through Environmental Protection Agency superfund allocations. The Center will be working with the EPA, Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality and the identified companies to ensure that those responsible pay their fair share and that further discharges that re-contaminate the river are reduced and eliminated. To date, eleven companies have come to the table and are funding studies of the harbor to determine the extent and type of contamination and to design a clean-up plan. The group is known as the Lower Willamette Group (LWG) and is headed by the Port of Portland.

The Lower Willamette Group is charged, under an agreement with EPA, with developing a Work Plan and a Sampling Plan for clean up of the harbor. The Programmatic Work Plan provides a roadmap for the project through successful completion of the Remedial Investigation and the Feasibility Study. The Field Sampling Plan describes specifically how and where the samples will be collected to meet the objectives of the Work Plan. Read the EPA's formal comments on the Lower Willamette Group's Work Plan and Field Sampling Plan and the LWG response to the comments.